Chick-fil-A responds after criticism over tweet appearing to reference Black customers

Chick-fil-A was forced to fend off accusations on social media that it had racially profiled a Black customer on Twitter.

The fast food chain said in a statement it lamented its “poor choice of words” over a reply to a customer asking about spicy food.

A user tweeted at the chicken restaurant on Friday, asking: “Grilled spicy deluxe but still noooo spicy nuggets…………@ChickfilA.”

The chain’s official Twitter account replied to say: “Your community will be the first to know if spicy items are added to the permanent menu, Don!”

NBC News reported that the first tweet only attracted a handful of replies, while Chick-fil-A’s response quickly went viral and was retweeted thousands of times.

“Explain yourself – quickly,” one user wrote.

“Oh we going to Popeyes tonight,” another said.

Others pointed out that Chick-fil-A’s Twitter account often replied to tweets using the term “your community”.

“Community as in area. See their previous tweets from at least a week ago.”

In a statement to NBC News, a Chick-fil-A spokesperson said: “The response was a poor choice of words but was not intended in any way to be insensitive or disrespectful.

“We often use the term ‘community’ in a broader sense to talk about places where we operate restaurants and serve the surrounding community.”